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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Whats for dinner at Mooreland

The dinner theater experience planned for March by Rabbit Run Theater at Mooreland Mansion will have a different menu all three evenings and for the Sunday brunch matinee. They're the work of new Lakeland Community College chef Sheila McCormack.
Choices will be offered so you may wish to consider what's being served before you book the performance of a Grand Night for Singing that you want to see. The production, framed around Rodgers & Hammerstein's most popular tunes, takes place in the college's Rodehorst Performing Arts Center, a five minute drive away and also on the grounds of Lakeland Community College.
If you dine on March 16 or March 22 you'll have a choice of a pan-seared chicken breast with spinach and artichoke roasted red pepper cream sauce served with either Boursin mashed redskin potatoes or wild rice pilaf and grilled asparagus. OR a sugar cured sirloin filet with wild mushroom demi-glace, bleu cheese au gratin potatoes and whole baby carrots.
The 3 p.m. matinee performance on March 17 will be preceded by a 12:30 p.m. brunch buffet with four salads, a self serve waffle station, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, maple sausage or corned beef hash. Featured meat will be roasted pork loin with bourbon maple glaze and rice pilaf.
On March 23 a benefit dinner is planned with a choice of two entrees., both served with black rice and whole baby carrots. Choose between a pan-seared chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and pears with a sage brown butter spring pea risotto or a five-spice rubbed pork tenderloin with pineapple au jus. Desserts, donated by local businesses will be up for bids.
Mooreland, you may recall, was built almost a century ago by Edward Moore, a prominent businessman who helped to develop the interurban railroad which ran along what is today Mentor Avenue. Most of the land that is today the Great Lakes Mall was once part of his vast estate. His mansion fell into disrepair over the decades but was restored in the early 1990s by Lakeland Community College which acquired the property and secured a $3 million grant to do the work.
It's a meticulous restoration and the mansion has since become a popular venue for weddings and other events. It's a rare occasion when the public has a chance to dine there and this dinner theater is one of them. Tickets, which start at $40 for the brunch and show, can be reserved with Rabbit Run Theater at 440 428-7092.